State Supreme Court holds up felon voting rights restoration restrictions

[eridani]

Fuck. Here's hoping that ACLU will take this to the legislator again.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/325257_voters27.html

The state Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the state's position that felons must pay all the fines and victims' restitution before their voting rights can be restored.
Last year, King County Superior Court Judge Michael Spearman struck down the state law that denies the vote to thousands of former felons solely because they owe court-imposed fines.

The high court's 6-3 decision overturned Spearman's ruling. Justice Mary Fairhurst wrote the majority opinion.

"We hold that Washington's disenfranchisement scheme does not violate the privileges and immunities clause of the Washington Constitution or the equal protection clause of the United States Constitution," Fairhurst wrote. "It is the province of the Legislature to determine the best policy approach for re-enfranchising Washington's felons."

The decision came after the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington sued the state on behalf of three people who can't vote because they have not -- and may never be able to -- pay fines and restitutions levied as part of their sentences.
State Attorney General Rob McKenna argued that state law requires felons to complete all the terms of their sentences, including fines and victims restitution, before their right to vote can be reinstated.

[ManiacJoe]

1. Sounds like the court properly interpreted the law as written.

Any changes need to come from the legislature.

[eridani]

2. The law as written is a poll tax

That ought to be illegal.

[sneakythomas]

3. I disagree

I don't think requiring felons to pay back what they owe is a poll tax. They have the option of not committing the crime to begin with. I think paying restitution is part of rehabilitating yourself back into a good citizen.

For the record, I have about $500 to left to pay.

[eridani]

4. Yes it is. You think that Bob Ney would have trouble paying any fines?

You've just said that rich felons are citizens just by virtue of being rich, and poor ones with no job prospects aren't allowed to be citizens.

[sneakythomas]

5. Don't be a felon

I had a choice and I made a bad one. Why should some one else pay for my mistake?

[eridani]

6. So did rich felons. Why should they get off the hook?

What any 'mistake' is worth in dollars is completely arbitrary anyway.

[sneakythomas]

7. Not true

Rich felons are not "off the hook" they had to pay back what they took.

The courts aren't arbitrary in determining what is owed, you have to restore the person that was damaged to where he would have been absent your actions. Generally (as it was in my case) the court will waive court costs etc if a person is indigent.

Which means rich people pay more.

I don't think its out of line to expect people to be responsible for their own actions.

[eridani]

9. Money = Responsibility?

Not in my book. What if courts don't waive the fees?

[ConsAreLiars]

8. If fines were based on % of income they might make sense.

A friend once temped in a law office where 90% of income came from clients who just called in whenever they got caught speeding. The law firm just filed masses of paperwork and obstructed in every way, and the cases ended up getting dropped. Big Bucks wins (almost) every time.

[sneakythomas]

10. A question for you

OK, I'm still a newbie here, trying to figure out my position on a lot of things.

So if some one breaks into your place and steals a bunch of stuff (your CD collection, the TV, laptop, etc) do you call the police? Your insurance company?

[eridani]

11. Not sure what this has to do with voting rights

If you've served your prison term, you've atoned IMO. When people get out of prison, they usually have a hard time finding any kind of work that will allow them to re-integrate into the rest of society, let alone paying off financial debts. Denying the franchise on top of that just adds to the problem.


It's a sad fact of life that most break-ins are never solved and you are out all of your stuff unless your insurance covers it.

[sneakythomas]

12. What this has to do with voting rights.

The biggest chunk of the money involved is always victim restitution, not court costs etc. I do not think a person has fully rehabilitated himself until he's made his victims whole. As I said I'm still working on mine. And I will be repairing emotional damage to my family for the rest of my life.

I agree that we need to do something better to help people become a productive part of society, but I think accepting responsibilty for your actions is part of that.

Maybe we ought to look at a plan whereby felons can get their voting rights restored for as long as they maintain a payment plan on the restitution.

[eridani]

13. That would be acceptable

It would not impose an extra burden on low-income felons.